Image Of Titan Taken By The Cassini Spacecraft

A boulder-strewn field of red rocks stretches across the horizon in this self-portrait of Viking 2 on Mars’ Utopian Plain. Viking 2 landed Sept. 3,1976, some 4,600 miles from the twin Viking 1 craft, which touched down on July 20.  

Image Credit: NASA/JPL

10 Spacetime Mysteries That Quantum Gravity Could Solve

“4.) In most approaches to quantum gravity, space-time is not fundamental but made of something else. That might be strings, loops, qbits, or some variant of space-time “atoms” which appear in condensed-matter based approaches. The individual constituents, however, can only be resolved when probed with extremely high energies, far beyond what we can achieve on Earth.”

What is the fundamental nature of the Universe? When it comes to General Relativity, our answer is matter and energy on one hand, and spacetime on the other. But there’s another side to that story: a quantum one. While matter and energy can be discretized into quanta, our notion of spacetime is purely classical. But depending on what our true, fundamental theory of quantum gravity actually is, it could have incredible implications for our Universe. Perhaps we have tiny little black holes popping in and out of existence on a continuous basis; perhaps the vacuum of space isn’t entirely transparent to light; perhaps time turns into space at some level; perhaps wormholes and baby Universes are real. These are mysteries that are currently unresolved, but quantum gravity could provide the answer.

What are the mysteries, and what does it all mean? Sabine Hossenfelder explores, with a fantastic video!

Young Stellar Grouping in Cygnus X

Cygnus X hosts many young stellar groupings. The combined outflows and ultraviolet radiation from the region’s numerous massive stars have heated and pushed gas away from the clusters, producing cavities of hot, lower-density gas.

In this 8-micron infrared image, ridges of denser gas mark the boundaries of the cavities. Bright spots within these ridges show where stars are forming today.

Credit: NASA/IPAC/MSX

How to Discover a Planet: A short step-by-step guide on how each of our planetary neighbors were originally discovered.

The NASA Village

Today in the NASA Village… Making More with Less

Stacey Boland works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on missions that use remote sensing instruments for Earth observation.  From space, we can learn so much about our changing environment here on Earth.

Maximizing science research requires finding creative and cost effective ways to do it!  Her team developed the ISS-RapidScat instrument using left over equipment NASA had in storage from a program launched in the 1990’s.  ISS-RapidScat is an external payload mounted to the outside of the Columbus module, part of the International Space Station. ISS-RapidScat measures ocean wind speed and direction to help track tropical cyclones and hurricanes. Stacey’s team was able to get a functioning piece of hardware for about a tenth the cost of a traditional “small” Earth science mission.

Stacey said, “It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it!  Working in the space program doesn’t require perfection - but it does require passion and hard work!  We work as a team here at NASA and everyone’s role is important.  We rely on each other to do our best, regardless of what part of the mission is “ours.”  All the parts need to work together for it to be a success and that takes teamwork and good communication!”

Stacey’s story represents how being creative in the NASA Village can really make a difference!

Where did Stacey get her hunger for space?  “When I was growing up, my dad and I would learn about each shuttle mission and then watch launches on TV together. It was fun learning about science and exploration together. Now, as a parent, I’m continuing on that tradition with my son”

“I was able to watch the SpaceX-4 launch in person with my mom, dad, husband, and son”, Stacy said. “It was absolutely incredible to share that experience with them.  My son still talks about it and has been practicing drawing rockets ever since. He often asks when we can go back to Florida to see another one!”

Experiencing a rocket launch in person is amazing.  Feeling the sound waves from the engines push against your body is quite a rush.  And when it is hardware you helped create, on its way into space, it makes that experience even more special.

Next time on the NASA Village… A visit to the NASA Village inspires a lifelong career.

Do you want more stories?  Find our NASA Villagers here!

This stunning multi-mission picture shows off the many sides of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. It is made up of images taken by three of NASA’s Great Observatories, using three different wavebands of light. Infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope are colored red; visible data from the Hubble Space Telescope are yellow; and X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are green and blue.

Image credit: NSA/JPL

TODAY IN HISTORY: Behold these beautiful shots of the Earth taken from the Gemini 5 spacecraft on August 25, 1965.

(NASA/ASU)

Messier 82

Messier 82 is a starburst galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. A member of the M81 Group, it is about five times more luminous than the whole Milky Way and has a center one hundred times more luminous than our galaxy’s center.

Image credit: NASA/ESA & Hubble

Comet Lovejoy is visible near Earth’s horizon in this nighttime image photographed by NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, onboard the International Space Station on Dec. 21, 2011.

Image credit: NASA